A number of beverage dispenser designs are well known in the art. These include carbonated beverage dispensers, non-carbonated beverage dispensers, beverage brewing systems, and liquor distribution systems. Many beverage dispenser designs have separate nozzles to pour (dispense) different beverages. Some beverage dispensers are capable of dispensing a variety of beverages out of a single nozzle.
Beverage dispensers are convenient because merchants can provide consumers direct access to the beverage dispenser which minimizes employee overhead as customers can serve themselves. However, beverage theft can occur where beverage dispensers are left in the open without close employee oversight. In the past, RFID tags and readers have been used to limit the theft of beverages in publicly accessible areas. However, these systems did not solve all of the beverage theft issues because the RFID tags could be easily cloned, copied, and used on unauthorized cups. Accordingly, there is a need for improved security in RFID cup identification applied to beverage dispensers.
Furthermore, the customer using RFID cups and/or tags is anonymous and it is difficult for merchants to identify and provide personalized services to customers using RFID cups. Thus a need exists for consumer personalization of RFID cups and/or tags.
Embodiments of the invention address the insecure nature of RFID cups and the anonymous nature of such RFID cups and other problems, individually and collectively.